Take Part in the “Virtual Unofficial Community Tec...

MattHarding · ‎11-03-2021

Update 16 November (just before SAP TechEd) - Giving everyone until the end of the year to come up with something - and don't worry about sending the video in - focus is on the music and getting the community involved...

One of the awesome things about the in-person SAP TechEd events was the ability to see different sides of people, including seeing their non-SAP talents and passions. For example, without TechEd Las Vegas, you may not have realised someone you chat to online is a gambler, alcoholic, person that doesn’t know when to go to sleep, or musician.

Jokes aside, one of the “traditions” a few years back was the semi-retired Jam Band (there will be a come-back tour one day I hope). This jam band performed at several TechEds made up by community members, showing their skills and/or passion (only passion was mandatory - especially when singing backup).

So we’re virtual again this year and who knows what the future holds for SAP TechEd and the metaverse - but I have an idea:

The "Idea"

I remember the first time I heard the original Enterprise Geek’s podcast intro music (that I recorded) that someone had uploaded to YouTube. It was recorded somewhere in Europe at a McDonald’s drive through. Hearing my music across the other side of the globe (in McDonalds even), really blew my mind.

More recently, I wrote the SAP Coffee Corner Podcast intro/outro music (with coffee making sound effects provided by my daughter). Thinking that I’d like to give others a similar thrill, I mentioned to Simon and Jakob (the original creators) that we should give the listeners an opportunity to record a solo over the main riff and end each podcast with an introduction to a different listener’s solo.

But then I saw this video, and had a better idea...

How about we ask anyone in the community to record a solo with video/audio, send it to me; and I collate all these into a massive community Jam video.

For drummers and bass players, I will include a section they can jam to as well.

And if you can't solo a piano, guitar, kazoo, or similar, but still want to be a part of it; just doing some backing sounds and I'll try add you in for a few verse regardless. e.g. If you want to just add some horn stabs (or even pair up with others to make a horn section - that would be amazing). You could even come up with your own community inspired lyrics and tune, or even rap for the verse/chorus. I’ll try to fit it in somehow if I can (no promises).

BTW - We especially love Flute accompaniment (#WWMD) and I will accept cowbell or Fiori egg shaker submissions, especially if the video is fun or you go to the trouble of highlighting something unique about where you live!

How to Participate

Prerequisite: Have the ability to record your music audio fairly cleanly without too much background noise and at a reasonable quality - Phone or Webcam Microphones aren’t probably good enough quality unless you have a really quiet environment with good headphones for the backing track (I’ll try include anything you can produce).

Your jam submissions should be by the 1st of January, 2022.

What's Required?

Step 1:

Download the draft backing track here (Google Drive link) or here’s a version on YouTube.

Step 2:

Time to Jam

While optionally videoing yourself (preferably landscape mode), play along with the backing track and record 1 section, recording just the audio from your instrument (use headphones if necessary). If you have a mobile set-up, a scenic video of your location would be amazing but your typical zoom background or white wall is totally fine too

Note - Try to submit for just 8 or 16 bars of music (unless you want to sing a mini-song with whole verse/chorus) - The verse is mostly a blues E pentatonic for soloing and the chorus is in the key of G Major.

Step 3:

Send me a link* to your (optional)video and audio to mattharding@sapeyecando.com or DM me on Twitter (@MattHarding) before the 1st of January, 2022 - Preferably mp4 and wav or mp3 formats respectively. Let me know where you are in the world too so that can appear on the video.

* Video can get quite large and Google’s cut-off is 25MB, so if video and audio is larger than that, use a link to Drive, SharePoint, Dropbox - as long as I can easily access it.

Step 4:

I’ll reply with a confirmation email to you - letting you know if the video/audio can be used

Step 5:

Jam goes live on YouTube

Some Expectations to Have

I’m doing this just for fun, the challenge, for the community and to see how the community engages in this type of thing (plus I love music and producing music and video)

Your (optional) video will likely appear with other people’s background music video

Order of jams will be fairly random (if 2 very similar solos come through, I might separate them)

It will hopefully be a very long song (sections will be looped as much as required) and useful for future background TechEd or SapphireNow music when waiting for keynotes to start

All music is Royalty Free (and you agree to that by submitting your music too)

The YouTube video won’t be monetised

If I accidentally miss your submission once the final version goes live - let me know and I'll insert your video and re-upload the final video mix (mistakes happen)

If I don’t get enough submissions, I might still be able to put these into separate outro’s for the Coffee Corner Podcast per my original idea but fingers crossed people show up for this!

What can I win?

You’ll be a winner by participating, but there are no actual prizes. Maybe I can convince the community to give us a badge if you give me your SCN id and someone designs a badge?

Get Jamming, have fun and thanks for those who participate!